Help me read my MRI Please
 

MRI LUMBAR SPINE:

IMPRESSION:A small disc bulge at the L4-5 AND l5-S1 with no significant central canal or neural formaminal stenosis.
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HISTORY BACK AND LEG PAIN. HISTORY OF BULGING DISC PER PATIENT.

TECHNIQUE:On a 1.5 Tesla magnet, sagittal T1,sagittal T2, axial T2, axial T1-weighted images were performed.

Findings: Alignment is maintained. No loss of lumbar vertebral body height. No marrow signal abnormality. The conus terminates at L1-2 inter-space.

At L1-2, there is no significant central canal or neural foraminal stenosis.

At L2-3, there is no significant central canal or neural foraminal stenosis.

At L3-4, there is no significant central canal or neural foraminal stenosis.

At L4-5, there is a very mild disc bulge causing mild narrowing of the left neural foramen but no evidence of nerve impingement. No central canal stanosis,

At L5-S1, there is a disc bulge. There is a mild narrowing of the bilateral neural foramen but no evident of impingement. No central canal stenosis.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...ome8898889.gif

Hello, and welcome to NT! This is such a great place with many friendly, caring, and helpful people.

We're so glad you found us! :)

Here is the link for the Back Pain forum:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

Hello rosiemarie. I am not an expert, nor do I have any formal experience reading MRIs, but basically your report came back normal.

The mild bulging at L4-5 and L5-S1, is just that..... mild. It basically means that the discs in between those vertebrae have popped out a tiny bit, but I doubt that would need any treatment at all.

What would be a problem would be significant bulging of the discs, or spinal canal stenosis (which means the spinal canal is getting squashed). Stenosis of the spinal canal is a surgical emergency because if not treated quickly, could lead to paralysis.

Glad to have you here!!
 

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help.

As you can tell there are great number of fellow members here to assist as possible. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene :hug:

ditto what koala said.

i'm no expert either but there is no nerve impingement or significant narrowing that would impinge on the spinal cord.

you could always call the place where you had the test done and ask for the radiologist's name that signed off on the report. perhaps he would explain it for you in layman's terms. otherwise i'd call your dr's office for an explanation.

glad you found NT/

Thank you for replying to my post, the thing is and why Im so confused is because I had an MRI done 2 years ago and was seeing a pain doc and doing physical therapy based on the last MRI. which showed herniated disk , ddd, and spinal canal stenosis. Then I had a emg that showed I had some pinched nerves. I had a couple of epidural injections that seemed to help. I started to have pain in my lags and back more so in the passed six months. I really never stop having pain, it just seem to be better than it was. I began having pain in my right side that wouldnt go away. MRI and Ct showed my right kidney was larger than the left. There was a trace of blood showing up in blood test they done in the office . The reports claims I have Hydropherosis . I had a procedure done where they go in a check the kidney and bladder out with a camera. Long story short. Doc says things look good. The pain in my side is still there. My primary doc thinks I need to get a second opinion . They also said my white counts were too high . He feels there is something going on as well. I have appointments to see another urologist. They treated me with antibiotics. two weeks later after taking the antibiotics I had my blood work done again , my white counts are norm now. ...What Im getting to Im not sure if this pain in my side is coming from the kidney. Maybe its from my back, The pain is in and around my rib cage. At night it hurts more so.....I just dont understand why this MRI is different from the one 2 years ago. does herniated disk heal on there own and become bulging disk later. Below is a copy of my MRI report from 2 years ago. It just dont make sense to me.


DATE OF EXAM: 10-24-08

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING LUMBAR SPINE.

CLINICAL HISTORY: Low back pain.

TECHNIQUE:Utilizing a 1.5 Tesla magnet, miltiplanar T1 and T2- weighted sequences were performed through the lumbar spine.

FINDINGS: The conus medullaris appears of normal signal and morphology and terminates at the L1-L2 level. The vertebral bodies appear of normal signal, stature, and alignment.

At L4 -L5, there is a mild disc bulging with minimal narrowing of the neural foramina inferior recesses.

At L5-S1, there is posterior central disk herniation mildly impressing on the ventral aspect of the thecal sac. There is mild bilateral neural foraminal stenosis. No definitive neural impingement is identified.

There are bilateral extrarenal pelvises with suspected mild hydronephrosis of the right kidney.

IMPRESSION: 1. L4-L5-and L5-S1 disk disease as detailed above. At L5-S1,
there is central disk herniation minimally effacing the ventral
aspect of the thecal sac without evidence of neural
impingement.
2. Bilateral extrarenal pelvices with suspected moderate
right-sided hydronephrosis. A dedicated ultrasound of the
kidneys is recommended for further assessment.

Any one have any intake on this would be appreciated.

Hi

I had a bulge to recess and be read as normal. That's rare for a bulge to heal.

A herniation is an opening, a tear, a rant. Very, very rarely will a herniation of any size close back together. Heal with scar tissue, maybe...

With injections and PT, good diet and exercise, you could have strengthened your body, which is what PT and home exercises programs are designed to do, and I'm trying to do, so that my own muscles can hold my bulges and herniations in for me. I'm not gaining much ground but I'm working on it. I'm a work in progress.

BTW, bulges are a competent producer of pain. So is kidney problems. You can have to sources of pain.

Leg pain is probably from back problems/pain.

and 10 pounds lighter can make a difference in back pain. I'm working on that too.

You probably had two different facilities, two types of machines, and two different radiologists. They're not so indifferent. Each just describes it with a different style. :wink:

Try listening to your own body. You're no stranger to back pain. Maybe another course of physical therapy. Or perhaps yoga and stretching. it can't hurt, if you're able to do it. Start slowly and work up to your reasonable goal. it's good for the rest of your body.

Hope to see you around the board.

Thank you Broken wings for your input. I am very new to this web sight, so Im still not sure how it all works here....This last MRI I had was only of the lower part of my back. My primary doc did read the report to me over the phone and she even seemed puzzled about the report. So Im going back to a pain specialist I went to two years ago. I had two epidural injections, usually they say u do it in threes. The second one seem to really help and I didnt go back after that. I never really got rid of all the pain, thats just something I have been living with for 33 years. Im 47 now. It seems like it has become part of my life. But I am very tired of being in pain and afraid to do things fearing my back will go out on me and pay for it the next couple of weeks. Last thing I want is go under the knife or stay on pain meds for the rest of my life. T o look at me I am a healthy young 47. But feeling like Im 87...I do really hate to exercise and Im not that much over weight. Im 147lbs and I run a day care, so Im busy all the time. I do a lot of lifting . I think my problem is Im not lifting right or bending right. Any way thank you again, I do wish you, as well ,Good Health and pain free.